IRD Organising Several Scientific Workshops on Climate Change Issues at COP21

Paris will host the 21^st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) from 30 November to 11 December 2015. On this occasion, research into development is ready to meet the challenges of climate change.

The French Research Institute for Development (IRD) and its partners in the Southern countries are organising several scientific workshops on headline climate change issues: carbon sequestration in soils, combating desertification, preserving water resources, etc.

The Institute is also taking part in public awareness campaigns in the "Climate Generations" areas at Le Bourget and the "Solutions 21" exhibition at the Grand Palais.

Finally, the IRD publications department is publishing two books summarising climate change in the Southern countries, as well as Ecology of our worlds, which will be presented to all the official delegations attending COP by the President of the French Republic and the Indian Prime Minister on 30 November.

• Reconciling sustainable development and fight against climate change: the main priority for North-South scientific cooperation

As an observer of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) since 2014, the IRD is more than ready for COP21. On this occasion, the Institute would like to recall a few fundamental points:

• In the Southern countries, more than elsewhere, it is imperative that fight against climate change is coupled with sustainable development goals to reconcile mitigation and adaptation to climate change, conserve the environment and reduce inequality.
• Essential support for public policies combining action against poverty and environmental conservation, research plays a multi-faceted role: diagnosis and monitoring of climate events, evaluation of impacts, identification of solutions and technological innovations to enable populations to adapt to environmental changes, but also capacity-building in research and information sharing in the South.
• Science must be part of a multidisciplinary, long-term approach to provide a cohesive and comprehensive overview of development issues. That is why the IRD is working to create and consolidate environmental observatories in the Southern countries.
• Worldwide, climate science must feed the academic knowledge produced in the North and in the South, and take into account knowledge and know-how possessed by the populations themselves.

To find out more, see the entire document on the IRD's positioning to COP21.

• Scientific meetings at Le Bourget: the main highlights

These meetings will be an opportunity to meet experts from the IRD on headline issues:

• Carbon sequestration in soils: on 30 November, a day devoted to the "4 parts for 1000" initiative, will be organised at the IRD France-Nord center in Bondy. This initiative is open to researchers, NGOs, professional organisations and development agencies. This initiative aims to improve soil organic matter stocks from 4 per 1000 each year, in order to compensate for all the greenhouse gas emissions on the planet and also to contribute to food security. The meeting will focus on the role of agriculture as a solution to climate change.

Discussions on this issue will continue, particularly during the "Carbon sequestration and agriculture" workshop, organised by the IRD, Cirad and INRA, with the support of the CGIAR, on 10 December in the blue zone.

• Research and higher education to tackle climate change. On 10 December in the blue zone, the IRD and the Conference of University Presidents (CPU) are offering the workshop "Climate: what commitments is higher education in the North making? What challenges are there for research in the South?". Jean-Paul Moatti, Chief Executive Officer of the IRD, will take part in this debate on the effectiveness of the research, training and skill enhancing devices established by universities and research organisations, in the North and in the South, to confront climate challenges.

This workshop will be an opportunity to present the results of the tripartite programme "Combating desertification in Africa" . This original South-South-North cooperation initiative, jointly funded by Brazil, Africa and France in 2012, has provided support for research and skill enhancing projects to contribute to the sustainable management of arid and semi-arid areas in Africa.

Research will be also at the centre of the discussions of the workshop "Climate change dialogues: what challenges for research in the South", scheduled for 3 December by the IRD, the Institut de la francophonie pour le développement durable (IFDD) and the International Development Research Center (CRDI).

• Climate change in Africa: on 10 December in the blue zone, the IRD and its partners will focus on the role of environmental observatories to combat climate change, during the workshop "Climate observing systems, climate information and African development". These observatories are behind long-term studies, essential for understanding climate phenomena and proposing sustainable development policies to policy-makers, combining risk management and the adaptation of populations.

The session "Efficiency and sustainability of climate and environmental policies in Africa: what are the scientific, political and financial barriers?” on 11 December in the blue zone, will raise the question of means and strategies to be implemented to strengthen the interface between science and public development policies.

• Preserving water resources and development of Lake Chad: the future of Lake Chad is at the heart of regional and international political concerns. During the workshop organised on 10 December in the Climate Generations areas, the IRD researchers and their partners will discuss sustainable development paths for the region, for to the benefit of coastal populations, including young people and women. The recommendations of the expert group review "Development of Lake Chad: current situation and possible outcomes", coordinated by the IRD at the request of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), will serve as the basis for the discussions.

On 11 December, Jean-Marc Châtaigner, Deputy Executive Director of the IRD, will speak at a session organised by the journal Passages, devoted to the Atlas of Lake Chad. Co-published with the IRD in 2015, this book presents the expertise of some fifty European and African scientists on the future of the lake.

In addition, researchers from the IRD will host conferences during the "Research for climate change action" day organised by the Ministry of Research and Higher Education, on 2 December in the Climate Generations areas: Biodiversity, towards resilience; what are the solutions to better share water? A carbon price for less carbon.

Finally, the session "Climate Change and its Challenges to the Scholarly Habitus", co-organised on 12 December with the Johns Hopkins University at the National Natural History Museum (MNHN), will allow participants to analyse the results of COP21 from the angle of human and social sciences. During round-tables, researchers will also discuss the impact of climate change on societies and cultures.

Actions involving the general public

• Climate Generations areas in Le Bourget

From 1 to 11 December, the IRD will be present in the Climate Generations areas intended for civil society. The stand (number 17, area A) will allow the general public to consult the documentary resources available, to test their knowledge through an interactive quiz and to interface with experts from the IRD attending COP.

Come and discover the transmedia device "Climate under surveillance!" Using an interactive web platform, amusing animation films and a great game involving a couple of classes of high school students in the world, this device showcases scientific tools used to observe and study climate change.

Fifteen or so films co-produced by the IRD will also be screened during COP21, including: "A river named Niger" (2 December), "Alps, glaciers under high surveillance"(2 December), "Himalayas, kingdom of snow" (4 December), "Berbers from the peaks" (5 December), "Peru, extreme planet"(8 and 11 December) and "Andes, the end of the glaciers" (11 December).

• Solutions 21 exhibition at the Grand Palais

The Institute is also participating in general public actions in the "Research for climate change action" area, coordinated by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research within the framework of the exhibition Solutions 21. Its researchers will in particular present scientific instruments dedicated to observing climate change: a rain gauge, a current meter and a sediment core...

In addition, researchers will present the corners "30 minutes, one solution": on 4 December, on the topic of "Insects against global warming "and on 9 December, on "monitoring rainfall using mobile telephony: a green response to climate change issues in the South". Finally, the public is invited to attend the conference "Evolution of natural environments and emerging diseases", on 6 December.

• Exhibition

The exhibition "Ocean and climate, exchanges for life", produced by the IRD with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, is open from 4 November to 4 January 2016 at the parc Georges-Valbon in La Courneuve (at the entrance to the Le Bourget site). Its aim is to explain, especially to young people, the essential but still largely unknown role that the ocean plays in global climate, and its current changes.

Summary books on climate change in the Southern countries

On the occasion of COP21, the IRD's publishing department is publishing three books

• Climate change: what challenges for the South?

This book, available in French and English, gives an overview of the research carried out by the IRD and its partners to better understand the complexity of climatic phenomena. By insisting on the resilience of populations and ecosystems in the face of climate change, the book explores solutions that reconcile the climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental conservation and reducing inequality.

• Rural societies coping with environmental and climate changes in West Africa

This book analyses recent and on-going developments to the climate and the environment in West Africa. It studies the perceptions, by rural societies, of these developments: what are the impacts of these changes? Do they lead to vulnerabilities or new opportunities? How do populations adapt? By involving French and African researchers (climatologists, agronomists, hydrologists, ecologists, demographers, geographers, anthropologists and sociologists, etc.) in an interdisciplinary approach, this book makes a valuable contribution to better anticipating climate risks and assessing the capabilities of African societies to cope with them.

• Ecology of our worlds – Views on climate and the environment

Written at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, this bilingual book (French/English), prefaced by François Hollande, President of the French Republic, and Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, brings together nearly 90 quotes from ancient and contemporary thinkers, on the environment and the climate. Available in a paper and digital version, it allows philosophers, writers, poets, naturalists, climatologists, journalists, ecologists, historians, sociologists and environmental activists from five continents to voice their opinion. Besides the diversity of the points of view, this compendium attests to the universality of ecological sensitivity, regardless of the cultures and ages of humanity.